Kaoru's Alternate Choice
by Itachiforever342
Summary: Read after chapter 30 of "Concrete Angel: Naruto Version"! Much spoilers for the mentioned story! Kaoru has to choose between Naruto and Konoha...and she chooses the latter. See how things turn out in this alternate ending to the story!


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Here it is, the alternate ending to Kaoru's story! Please read, everyone, PLEASE!

Warning: This one-shot is VERY, VERY sad! If you don't like, don't read!

* * *

><p><strong>Kaoru's Alternate Choice<strong>

(After chapter 30 of Concrete Angel - Naruto)

When Kaoru got up the next morning, she gave a firm nod. _I know what I have to do._

She flew over to Naruto's apartment first thing and when he answered the door, she hugged him tight. He held her back and whispered, "What's going on, Kaoru? You okay?"

The angel woman pulled back and gave him a look of complete agony. "I have to tell you something that you and Kyu-san won't like."

He raised his eyebrows but pulled her inside. "You might as well get it over with, so spill."

Tears glistened in her eyes as she confessed, "We can't be together anymore. We have to break it off completely."

Instantly the demon cloak came around her boyfriend and he shouted, "What? I thought we were gonna date in secret!" He grabbed her around the shoulders and snarled, "I won't let you do this! I LOVE YOU, KAORU!"

Her eyes widened at the proclamation and she began to sob. "Don't say that! You're only making this harder for the both of us!"

"DAMN STRAIGHT I AM!" he screamed. "IF WE'RE GONNA PART, IT'S GONNA BE PAINFUL! I FEEL LIKE YOU'RE GOING TO CRUSH MY HEART IN YOUR HANDS!"

At those words, Kaoru buried her face in his chest, wailing as she clutched his jacket. _I can't do it! I can't say such a cruel thing, especially since it's a lie! If I do, he'll explode!_ She braced herself and looked into his eyes, which were flickering between blue and red. "I don't love you anymore, Naruto."

He roared, the unnatural, guttural sound of it so heart wrenching that she couldn't help but struggle against his hold, slipping very slowly from his clawed hands. He stopped so suddenly that she gasped and pulled her into a passionate kiss that had her body lighting on fire like she was the one who was surrounded by the Kyubi's chakra. She twisted in his grip, trying to keep her resolve as he ravaged her mouth with reckless abandon, her eyelashes fluttering as she felt all _nine_ of his tails wrapped around her so tight she could hardly move.

Their bodies shuddered as they parted, and he whispered fiercely, "I dare you to say that again, now that I've shown you what I can give."

"Please!" she cried. "I can't do this anymore! Let me go!"

"That's a lie! I can see it plainly on your face!"

"I HATE YOU!"

"NO YOU DON'T!"

"YES I DO!"

"**PROVE IT THEN! WALK OUT OF HERE, NEVER SPEAK TO ME AGAIN! DON'T SHED A SINGLE TEAR OVER ME ONCE YOU'RE COMPLETELY CUT OFF FROM MY PRESENCE! IF WE DO MEET, THEN PRETEND WE'RE STRANGERS! IF I SEE **_**ONE**__** SPARK**_** OF HESITANCE, THEN I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE THINKS OF US, I'LL TAKE YOU AWAY AND MAKE YOU MY WIFE!**"

This was said by both the Kyubi and Naruto as one. The heartbroken blonde let go of her and watched her pointedly. She took one step of retreat, then another. She turned and opened the door, running out and closing it behind her. Almost immediately she wanted to go back and plead to him to fulfill his promise. _I have to do this, for the good of Konoha and my clan. Fly back to the clan compound and act like Naruto doesn't exist. Don't cry, don't think of this moment. FLY AWAY, KAORU!_

Her wings opened and she flew back home, going inside and straight to her room. She put her plush panda, earring, goggles, guitar, music, pictures, torn out journal entries even mentioning him, into a garbage bag, tying it in a secure knot and throwing it into the back of her closet, putting a genjutsu over it so it wasn't visible. She shut the door with a bang, schooling her features although her eyes were completely dead.

_I promise you, I won't think of it again. You _don't_ exist._

(98º - The Hardest Thing)

* * *

><p>A week passed and Itachi had just about enough of Kaoru being this broken yet emotionless shell of herself. He took her into his room and demanded, "What happened between you and Naruto?"<p>

She tilted her head and asked, "Who?"

His eyes narrowed. "Don't you play games with me, you know who."

_I don't know anyone named Naruto. Who's he talking about?_ "Onii-san, I'm not playing games. Who are you talking about?"

He put a hand to her forehead, but didn't find any heat out of the ordinary. "You're in denial, Kaoru! Snap out of it and tell me what happened with him!"

"Onii-san, I'm being serious," Kaoru insisted. "I don't know anyone that goes by the name Naruto. I doubt there's anyone around here that _is_ named after a ramen ingredient."

The Uchiha Clan heir stared at her straight in the eyes and checked to see if she was lying. When he didn't see any, he took her by the wrist and stated, "I'm taking you to Tsunade-sama."

"Tsunade-sama? Why?"

"Your memory's been tampered with and I'm going to find out who did this to you."

_Onii-san's acting strangely. I'll go along with it for now, but if he persists, then I'll just have to _re_sist._

They passed Sasuke on the way out, and the teen had to do a double-take. "Onee-chan, what's wrong? Your eyes look like a pair of broken light bulbs."

Kaoru smiled, although it didn't reach her eyes at all. "Nothing's wrong, Sasuke. I'm just fine."

He frowned and sighed. "No you're not," he muttered.

* * *

><p>Itachi kept a brisk pace all the way to the Hokage Tower, Kaoru keeping up with a confused look on her face. He knocked on the door and entered without being bid. Tsunade looked up from her paperwork and smiled at Kaoru.<p>

"I was expecting you Kaoru, but why is Itachi dragging you?"

The determined Uchiha man pulled Kaoru forward. "Tsunade-sama, Kaoru's memory has been tampered with! She has no recollection of Naruto!"

The Hokage's brown eyes widened. "What? If that's so, then that would mean—" She stood up and walked over to Kaoru, who stared at her in alarm. "Kaoru, do you remember being attacked in the twenty-four hour period exactly one week ago?"

Kaoru looked at the ceiling. _An attack? What's she talking about? I was at home the whole time with Itachi. _"No."

"Of course not. If you were attacked, then your assailant wouldn't leave any traces in your memory of their actions."

The emerald-eyed young woman felt a pinch in her midsection and interrupted, "Tsunade-sama, my apologies, but it's time to deliver presents."

Itachi was thrown off by the sudden change in subject. "Presents? Is it someone's birthday today?"

Tsunade took Kaoru by the arm and stated, "We'd better get going, then. Itachi, stay here and tell anyone who comes that I'm busy."

"What do you—"

"Just. Tell. Them."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

The pair of women went to the Godaime Hokage's personal quarters and Kaoru relaxed, meditating until she gave birth to two baby girls, both with black hair and black eyes, pale like their mother. Kaoru held the first and whispered, "I'll call her Haruka, and her sister, Hisayo."

"They're just like you…I would've thought they'd have tails and ears."

"Why?"

"The Kyubi's their father, after all."

Kaoru's eyes widened in horror. "_No_. That _demon_ is the father of my children?"

"Uchiha Kaoru, when did you _ever_ refer to the Kyubi like that? Recently you've come to call him 'Kyu-san'."

" '_Kyu-san_'? Why would I become so close to the demon that destroyed my clan's reputation and nearly the village itself? I would _never_ call it such a thing!"

Just as Tsunade was about to reply, a massive calm came over the both of them. The babies cooed at their mother, snuggling very close to her. The blonde woman gritted her teeth in an attempt to keep her temper up, but she couldn't, so she sighed and grumbled, "There _must_ be something wrong with your memory, since a day before you started acting like this you were agonizing over how you were going to keep your babies a secret from Naruto, since the Kyubi already knew about them." She dressed them and looked at them carefully. "I think we can pull off saying they're Itachi's kids, since you are married to him and the timing can be tweaked a bit, since no one really knows about this. The hardest part will be convincing Itachi to play along."

Kaoru stood up, one baby on each arm, and walked with Tsunade back to her office. Itachi turned at their entrance and his eyes went wide then narrow at the sight of the twins. He turned to Tsunade for an explanation.

"I want you to say they're yours, Itachi. With how they look, it won't be too hard. The timing is right and you could make up any story you want about how they came about, just make sure you convince Fugaku."

"Are they really Naruto's?"

"Yes, but for the peace of the village, you can't let anyone know the truth. For this I'll work tirelessly to find out how Kaoru's memory was altered. Deal?"

Itachi frowned, but nodded.

"Now take your wife home and adjust to life with twin newborns, because I don't know how they'll grow or their sleeping habits or anything. They'll probably be like Kaoru's."

_This is strange. Whoever this Naruto is, he seems to be connected to me. I can't remember anything about him, if he even exists. For all I know, it might be a code word for something and everyone knows about it but me._

She looked up when Itachi took her by the arm and pulled her out of the Hokage Tower, not stopping for anything, even if people called out to them. He looked very frustrated and in deep concentration, which made her very concerned. _He's not happy about how things turned out, even though I don't know why, save that he has to lie to our whole family about where Haruka and Hisayo came from. I'm not confused by how they came about, but their origins are a little fuzzy, since I wasn't that lucid during my first heat. I hope things don't become strained between us because of this. I want us to still be the best of friends. _With that thought, she smiled, just as they walked into their home.

She slipped her shoes off as Itachi did the same, and she called, "We're back!"

Mikoto came over, Chichi on her hip. "Welcome back you two—oh! What's this?"

"Haruka and Hisayo, your first granddaughters," Kaoru announced, the babies looking around curiously.

"Oh Kaoru! This is quite the wonderful surprise! But…I thought you said that you and Itachi weren't going to have children!"

Itachi patted his mother's shoulder. "We decided to do it the unnatural way, and went to the Hokage. She did the procedure and it went well, as you can see. They both take after their mother."

"You did something like this behind my back?"

Kaoru looked up to see Fugaku at the back of the entrance hall, arms folded with a look of intense displeasure on his face. _I knew this wouldn't be taken well by Otou-san at first. After all, he and Onii-san did fight for a good day about it._

"We did, because we didn't need your influence in the decision. We decided this on our own and here are not only one, but two grandchildren for you, Otou-san."

Fugaku came over and shuddered a little at the forced calm he had to feel when in proximity to Kaoru. He frowned and looked down at them. "They're both girls. If you insist on giving me grandchildren, at least give me _one_ grandson."

He stalked away, Itachi shaking his head. Mikoto sighed and assured them, "He'll come around as he sees them more often. They're both beautiful, Kaoru! Look, Chichi! You have two new nieces!"

Chichi laughed and chirped, "They're soooo cuuuute!"

That was when Sasuke came in. His eyebrows rose in confusion and he looked from the twins to Kaoru to Itachi. "Aniki, you didn't, did you?"

Itachi nodded resolutely. "Invetro-fertilization."

"You could've at least told me before you come popping in with a pair of them!" He then leaned over and hissed in his elder brother's ear, "Naruto's gonna kill you."

Kaoru sighed. _Why does that name keep popping up? It's pissing me off with how every seems to know him but me. _"Sasuke, they're called Haruka and Hisayo."

Sasuke looked upset as he gazed at his new nieces. "They're…cute. I should be going, I have a mission this afternoon."

He left quickly and Kaoru was very confused as to why her brothers were angry over the twins. _What did Haruka and Hisayo do to them? Why aren't they happy for me and lavishing them with attention?_

* * *

><p>A couple months passed, and Kaoru's birthday came up. She'd noticed very quickly that her babies were growing at twice the rate others did, considering she'd watched Chichi grow from an infant to a small child. They were already supporting their own torsos and keeping eye contact with people, things that took Chichi until she was four months old to do. Haruka was rather aloof and hesitant to interact with anyone save her mother and sister, while Hisayo relished in the attention, loving that people cooed over her and that her mother took great care to make sure her hair was brushed just right every day.<p>

Kaoru had to carry them almost all the time because Haruka screamed whenever her sister wasn't around and wouldn't let anyone but her mother hold her. She was doing so as she walked amid her clansmen, people greeting her more than they did her other birthdays because she was more prominent as the wife of the clan heir. Hisayo was playing with her bangs, since the rest was in a tight bun at the back of her head.

"Those daughters of yours are so beautiful, Kaoru-sama!" one of the middle-aged women of the clan cooed, Hisayo cooing back but Haruka looked back at her mom after a single glance. "I always said you were a beauty, and the genes were passed on to your posterity! I hope you have a just-as-beautiful son in the future! And Happy Birthday!"

"Thank you, Wakana-san!" Kaoru greeted back, as the woman bowed to Itachi before retreating.

Then the whispers started around them as protests sounded from close by.

"What is that_ thing_ doing here?"

"Who invited _it_?"

"Such filth shouldn't be inside our walls!"

Sasuke came running over, pulling a blonde young man with unruly hair, large blue eyes and what looked like whiskers on his cheeks. He wore an orange kimono with a black yukata underneath, and he looked disgruntled that Sasuke had dragged him over so violently.

"Sasuke, what are you doing? I don't even know why you invited me in the first place!"

Sasuke pointed to Kaoru and her kids and crossed his arms. "Why _else_ would I invite you over here?" He then whispered, "Now kiss and make up."

Kaoru tilted her head in confusion over that and asked, "Otouto, is this your friend? The one I've been hearing about like some unknown code word?"

"Yeah, this is Uzumaki Naruto."

For a tense moment the pair met eyes before Kaoru bowed and greeted, "I'm Uchiha Kaoru, it's nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san."

Both the Uchiha brothers had to pick up their jaws off the floor as Naruto greeted back curtly, "It's good to meet Sasuke's older sister at last, and Happy Birthday, Uchiha-san."

He bowed only slightly before wrenching his arm out of Sasuke's grip and taking a direct path out of the Uchiha Compound, not heeding that he had to shove people out of the way.

Itachi shook his head and grumbled, "That went _well_, didn't it? Now we know for sure that Kaoru's brains are chopped up and have huge pieces taken out."

Sasuke scowled. "Naruto was faking it, I could see it in his whole body. He was surprised to see her like this and was expecting her to break this weird blank exterior and talk to him like normal. Kaoru, you've known him longer than you've known me! It was because of him that we met! Come on, you have to at least have a blank there!"

Kaoru shook her head. "No, we met in front of the academy and talked civilly, he wasn't there."

"We didn't! You picked a fight with me because I was insulting Naruto! You actually flashed your fist at me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I remember clearly that we met by chance and took a liking to each other. You then introduced me to Onii-san and invited me to dinner at your home, that's where Otou-san took a liking to me and decided to adopt me, since I was all alone and needed some stability in my life."

Itachi and Sasuke exchanged a glance and the elder brother shook his head. "That _isn't_ how it happened, Kaoru. _We_ met because you fought with Otouto and he asked me to help him fight you. I refused, but was interested in the fact that you defended Naruto when no one else would. We became the best of friends, confidants, that day. You needed someone to understand you and I was the person you chose. _I_ invited you to dinner at our house, and Sasuke was none too pleased about it. He tried to pick a fight with you several times during that single meal."

Sasuke nodded. "You broke my nose, knocked the wind out of me and gave me the nastiest uppercut I've ever experienced, even when I had to fight Orochimaru at thirteen. I wanted nothing better but to give you the same treatment, but it didn't seem to work the first time I tried and I was the first to figure out that you were invincible."

_Their stories match perfectly, but that _isn't_ what I remember, and I'm sticking to my memory, it wouldn't be faulty. Besides, I have no clue about what Sasuke means by saying I have "burnt out light bulbs" for eyes. I haven't felt better in my life. After all, I have a family and children of my own. What could be better?_ "You guys are just trying to confuse me. I don't want an argument, so I'm going to the refreshments table to get something."

"Kaoru—" Itachi began to protest, but she turned and walked away.

_Oka-san's happy for me, but even she has a look of sadness behind her eyes whenever she looks at me. Why does everyone think my life is ruined except me? It isn't me, that's for sure._ Kaoru looked at the refreshments and then at her twins, knowing she'd made the wrong excuse.

"Kaoru, let me take Hisayo for you so you have a hand free," Mikoto offered as she came over. Hisayo cooed as she was changed hands and Haruka turned her head towards her twin with a whimper.

Kaoru took a piece of cake and cut it into pieces at the table before taking a forkful and holding it up to Haruka's mouth. The baby looked at her mother like she was nuts, but took a tiny bite. "You like it, Haruka-chan?"

Haruka made a face and didn't take any further bites. Kaoru chuckled at the reaction and ate the rest of the piece. "You're so funny. You eat whatever I give you even if you don't like it. You might as well not eat at all."

Chichi came running and tugged on Kaoru's kimono. "Onee-chan! Can I hold Haruka?"

"You're too small yet, and Haruka-chan doesn't like to be held by anyone but me."

"Awww. Can you hold me, Onee-chan?"

Kaoru lifted her sister up and the little girl squealed in delight, hugging the teenager around the neck. Chichi took a long look at her and a worried look came to her face. "Onee-chan, why are you so sad?"

_Not her too! Why is it that _everyone_ says I'm unhappy? I couldn't be happier! What could I want more than this?_ "I'm happy, Imouto! Why else would I be smiling?"

"Itachi-onii-chan says that there are two types of smiles that people make: a real smile from the heart, or a fake one that doesn't even reach the eyes. _Yours_ is fake, Onee-chan. Your eyes are very, _very_ sad."

_I'M. NOT. SAD! MY SMILES ARE NOT FAKE AND THERE ISN'T SOMETHING MISSING FROM MY LIFE!_ Kaoru put her sister down and handed Haruka to Mikoto. "Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom for a few minutes."

Her mother raised her eyebrows as she fled into the trees behind the large shrine.

* * *

><p>For several minutes the young mother ran through the small wood that was included in the Uchiha Compound. She stopped finally and punched a tree, it shuddering violently. She looked at the sky and shrieked, "WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK THEY KNOW WHAT'S BEST FOR ME? I'M <em>NOT<em> UNHAPPY WITH MY LIFE! MY EYES CAN BE AS DEAD AS THEY WANT, I HAVE A TERRIBLE PAST, DON'T I? I HAVE A WONDERFUL FAMILY, A BEST FRIEND FOR A HUSBAND, AND TWO OF THE CUTEST, SWEETEST LITTLE GIRLS FOR CHILDREN! TELL ME WHY! WHY, KAMI-SAMA? I DON'T KNOW WHAT MIGHT'VE BEEN DONE TO ME THAT EVERYONE SEEMS TO HAVE THE SAME STORY ABOUT THIS STRANGER I JUST MET TONIGHT! HE ONLY INTRODUCED HIMSELF AND WISHED ME A HAPPY BIRTHDAY! WHY IS HE SO IMPORTANT THAT I HAVE DEAD EYES?"

She whirled and kicked the same tree, it shaking again as a crack appeared in the trunk. She screamed in frustration, raking her fingers through her hair, tempted to snatch herself bald just to feel something real.

"I HATE IT THAT EVERYONE AROUND ME LOOKS AT ME WITH SADNESS FOR ME IN THEIR EYES! EVEN OTOU-SAN KNOWS SOMETHING IS WRONG, BUT I DON'T KNOW MYSELF! IT COULDN'T BE THAT SOMEONE'S MESSED WITH MY MEMORIES! IT JUST COULDN'T! I WISH EVERYONE WOULD STOP PITYING ME FOR NOTHING! I WANT TO HIT THEM UNTIL THEY STOP IT! JUST STOP IT! STOP LOOKING AT ME THAT WAY! I'M HAPPY, I AM! I'M THANKFUL FOR EVERY LITTLE THING THAT I'VE RECEIVED IN MY SECOND LIFE, IT'S A HELL OF A LOT BETTER THAN WHAT HAPPENED TO ME IN MY FIRST!"

She imagined that the tree was all her family looking at her with those sad, pitying eyes. She let out all her fury and the tree flew into the tree behind it, completely torn from its roots. She panted and felt hollow, not better, now that she'd ranted. _I don't know why I feel this angry with just how they're looking at me! Why can't I think of anything but a song, over and over, in my head?_

(Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love)

_It keeps going, never stopping! Why does it have to bother me so much? Just SHUT UP!_

"Kaoru, what're you doing out here? You're missing your own birthday party!" Itachi called, coming over to her and placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Leave me alone," she stated. _You're all mocking me for something that never happened. You're all pretending. I just know it._

He sighed and knelt next to her. "When we're alone, we could always talk about whatever we needed to without caring about hurting the other. Please."

That final "please" made her snap. She stood and glared down at him. "You want me to be candid? Fine. I'm sick and tired of everyone looking at me like I've lost the most important thing in my life! They pity me when I don't need any! Even _you're_ doing it! I don't have anything hurting me! You won't believe me when I say that I've never been happier with the life I have! There isn't anything I could want more than this!"

He stood up and shook his head. "I know for a fact that every single word about you being truly happy is a lie, because deep down you're _heartbroken._ You must've broken up with Naruto when you were so in love there couldn't have been anyone else in your heart save him. Now that I think about it, _you_ must have altered your memory with a powerful genjutsu, erasing Naruto's existence from your memories so you wouldn't have to suffer nearly as much. That _has_ to be it. I don't believe that anyone, even your enemies, knew you were in love with him. You told me yourself that you were broken up between choosing him and keeping the peace of Konoha." He looked deep into her eyes. "Is this peace worth all the suffering you've suppressed and yet some still leaks out, tainting your eyes and making it so you cannot truly be happy? Well, _is it_?"

She shook with fury and exploded, "I'M FINE! I'M NOT SAD! I NEVER HAD THAT CONVERSATION WITH YOU! SO STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!"

The angel young woman began to storm away, when he challenged, "Then show me your wings."

She stopped dead. _Why would he tell me to do that? I don't need to fly anymore because there isn't anywhere I need to go beyond walking distance._ "Why?"

"You've kept them hidden ever since this happened to you. If you were really happy, you'd go flying all the time. You've said flying is one of the joys of your life."

Without a second thought, she spread them, both of siblings unprepared for the shower of black feathers that fell to the ground with the appearance of her _pitch black _wings. She caught a feather and stared at it like she'd never seen one before. "H-how? An angel's wings are supposed to stay white, unless—" She cut herself off with a gasp.

"Tell me, is it unless her heart is broken? Shattered into a million pieces? Crushed like a grape?"

Shocked to the core, she could only nod.

"You told me that an angel can only have their heart broken like that is when they refuse their soul mate, and their soul mate is the only one who can make them mature like your body has. What do you think about my assumptions now?"

"NO! IT'S A LIE! A TRICK TO MAKE ME FALTER FROM THIS LIFE I HAVE!"

"I don't think so. It's _you_ who's lying to yourself."

She took flight without another word, circling around to find something to finally end all this pain and anger. _I've been lying to myself all this time? Why would I make myself forget my soul mate? I can't live without him, but with my wings the way they are, he wouldn't take me back. He wouldn't._

Her sharp eyes found a massive stalagmite sticking up from a gorge. Taking her wings in both hands, she pulled until she heard them pop out of place, before falling, her chest out in front of her. As she fell towards her death, her eyes suddenly lit up.

_What am I doing? I wasn't supposed to kill myself! Fly, dammit, fly! No sorrow's worth this!_

Her wings stayed limp and she kept falling, terror radiating from every inch of her body. As she fell the last few feet, she closed her eyes and cried, "I'm sorry, Naruto! I shouldn't have—"

CRUNCH.

* * *

><p>Naruto sat on his apartment roof, looking up at the sky. He sighed and lifted Kaoru's guitar and began to play. "This is for you, Kaoru."<p>

(Taylor Swift - Back to December)

As he finished, one of his neighbors opened a window and shouted, "It's two in the morning, Naruto! SHUT UP!"

He shook his head and murmured, "I'll paintball your apartment in the morning. You shut up; I was singing a lament for my lost love. You might not miss her, but I do."

He strummed the guitar and whispered the last lines again. "I go back to December all the time…all the time…"

* * *

><p>What did you think? It killed me to write this, because it went against the grain! But here it is!<p>

NO FLAMES! I wrote this as an alternate ending, so don't hate me!

Please review!


End file.
